RAFE'S LAIR (24 page)

    "Rachel I'll go willingly. You can punish me all you want, but you leave her out of this. She's not the one you hate, it's me Rachel, I'm the one who betrayed you. I'm the one that ruined our family. Ava is innocent; don'
t have her blood on your hands because of me."

    "You betrayed all of us Rafe, even her." Rachel said pushing her gun harder into Rafe's mate's head for emphasis.

Ava felt the gun dig into her head harder pushing it forward. When Ava moved it back up a little, Rachel pushed her again with the barrel. Ava squeaked she tried not to. But she couldn't help it; she was so freaking scared now. This crazy midget kept digging her gun into Ava's head and she knew the psycho hadn't taken her finger off the trigger. One little slip and there would be a bullet tearing through her brain and out her head. That so didn't sound like it would feel very good.

Not to mention psycho kept telling Rafe she was going to kill her to frame him for somehow having their brother exec
uted for murdering a woman. Somehow, this League that supposedly Rafe chose to allow to try their brother was a part of this whole thing. Ava had expected Rafe to correct the delusion of the whole vampire thing too, but he didn't. This whole thing was so crazy she was having a hard time believing it was actually happening.

    "You ruined our family and now you'll pay for what you did to us. You'll watch your precious mate die and you'll know what it's like to have what matters most to you taken away from y
ou. Then you will know the horror of being tried for a crime you didn't commit just like Roman did."

Rafe lost it then and everything happened at once.

                                   CHAPTER 36

      "NO!" Rafe roared and pulled on his chains with al
l he had. Rachel and Ava saw him change and pure terror lit their faces. Rachel raised her gun and fired at what once was her brother.

Rafe knew what Ava was seeing and he hated it, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He had to save her at all
costs. He knew she was seeing the side of him he never wanted her to see. She saw the monster that he truly was. The killer that was always just under the surface, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He just had to pray she would be able to accept what he was when this was all over. He had to make sure Rachel didn't take her away from him and he would deal with the fallout afterwards.

The chains shattered as he heard multiple reports of gun shots going off. He couldn't feel anything hitting him
he was so focused on saving his mate. No matter what, he wouldn't let anything kill him before he knew Ava was safe. He ripped both sets of chains from him and went for his mate where Rachel had been. He saw Ava was okay and he scanned the warehouse for Rachel. He saw her running out a door behind where she had been keeping Ava and took off after her.

He got to the door just after Rachel passed through it and he threw it open. He never made it through that door though. The explosion that went off as soon as
he opened the door rocked the entire building. Rafe was thrown back by the blast and slammed into the wall with enough force to knock him out momentarily. He was covered by debris and more was raining down on him. The only thing he could think of was that he had to get to his Ava.

Ed had just reached Ava when the blast went off and sent them flying through th
e air. Michael had called him as soon as he hit the roof and realized he couldn't see Rafe and his mate through the sky light. He'd phased straight to the warehouse and was stunned by what he found. Rafe's sister had Ava tied to a chair and Rafe was on his knees his arms and legs chained. He didn't have time to process what he was seeing before all hell broke loose.

Rafe yelled and started breaking out of his chains. The rational side of him finally lost control of the vampire and he became all predator. Ed
saw Rachel raise her gun at Rafe and he jumped in front of Rafe. Staying in between the worlds, he was able to take the bullets without anyone knowing he was there. He'd deal with the damage they did later, as long as Rafe lived to hold Ava that's all that mattered. Rafe had broken through the chains and instead of going straight to Ava; he took off after his sister. Ed fully phased into the mortal realm.

    "I'm gonna kill that sorry son of a bitch myself!" He yelled going for Ava.

Ava was in total shock. She'd just watched Rafe turn into something she thought was only a myth. She couldn't say he was a monster though. She could still see the Rafe she'd fallen for; he was just a lot scarier for the chick that'd pissed him off. There was no doubt that his eyes really were glowing bright emerald green and he had fangs that were scary long. Longer than they were in her dreams. Ava didn't think she could be any more shocked until she saw the devil appear right in front of her cussing as he stormed over to her.

A
va couldn't form a coherent thought or word as this thing that looked like it was fire and had horns and a tail and claws came stalking to her. He reached out and at first she thought he was gonna finish the job of killing her the psycho midget didn't get to. Then right before he ripped the tape off her mouth he spoke to her.

    "Sorry sweetness this isn't gonna feel too good." Ed said to a very sh
ell shocked Ava right before he ripped the tape off her mouth. She started to scream at him and then they were thrown back by a blast that shook the building.

Michael was about to jump through the damn sky light when he saw Marcus and the others flying int
o the parking lot in various vehicles. Just as he went to jump, he saw a figure running out the back so he took off across the roof after it. He reached the edge of the building as it felt like it exploded and it ungracefully launched him off the roof. He hit the ground on his back and had the wind completely knocked out of him from the impact.

Marcus, Ethan, and Nate were at the entrance to the warehouse when they felt the explosion. They wasted no time after that, they charged in praying they weren't too
late. Dom and Sloan arrived just as they were running inside. Drawing their guns, they followed suit.

Smoke was pouring out everywhere so Ava couldn't see a damn thing. She wasn't even sure what had just happened. All she knew was she was still tied to the
damn chair and she was now laying on her side. She was trying to figure out a way to get unstuck from the friggin chair when she felt someone grab a hold of her. She immediately started screaming and struggling.

    "Ava stop it's me Marcus you
’re okay honey. Stop fighting me I'm not going to hurt you."

    "Hurry the devil was just here and we have to find Rafe before the psycho midget kills him. The thing must have blown up the building trying to kill us." Ava was ranting while Marcus was untying her.

    "Ava stop. Calm down sweetheart I can't understand what you’re saying." Marcus was trying to calm her down as he cut through the ropes still tying her to the chair.

Ed pushed the debris off him trying to un-bury himself as he answered for her.

    "She's talking about me genius." He looked over at Ethan. "Hey asshole how bout a little help here."

Ava started screaming and grabbed hold of Marcus to try to pull him away from the devil.

    "Ethan no don't go near him he's on fire." Ava was desperate now. She didn't know what the hell was going on. "This has to be some sort of fucked up nightmare." She said as she started shaking from shock.

Ethan looked at Ed. "Dude you lost control of your form and showed Ava how freakin ugly you really are?" He asked. "Isn
't that like a total pussy move in the demon world?"

Ed grabbed Ethan's shirt and brought him down to Ed's level, which was currently on the ground unfortunately.

    "Listen here fang face. Let me see you get shot like six times and not lose a little of your control too. I swear I hear you talk anymore shit about this and I'll personally rip your tongue out and feed it to you. Now help me up asshole, I've been wounded in the line of duty."

Ethan started laughing. "Okay, okay keep your panties on pumpkin."
He said helping Ed up.

Ava looked at Ed and swore she was going crazy. He wasn't the devil, he was a man. She looked at his torso and it was full of bullets. She thought she was going to pass out.

    "Oh God he's been shot! You have to get him to a hospital." She cried. "Why are all of you acting so calmly? What is wrong with you people?"

    "Calm down sweetness, every thing
’s going to be okay." Ed told Ava and she started freaking out even more and shrieking over him so loud they had to cover their ears.

    "I will not fucking calm down! I swear if someone tells me to calm down one more freaking time I'm going to lose it!"

Ethan stage whispered to Ed. "Dude I think she already has lost it. It was probably cause she got a good look see at your horns and tail."

Ed elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut the hell up, you
’re not helping ass wipe."

Marcus looked at Ed. "You've been shot? How?"

    "Taking the bullets meant for Rafe that's how."

    "RAFE!" Ava screamed and jumped up and started running in the direction
she thought he had gone. She ran straight into Dom and he held her back.

    "No Ava listen to me you can't go over there just yet, it isn't safe." Dom said holding on to Rafe's very frantic mate.

Ava started beating and struggling against the man holding her. She had to get to Rafe. She didn't care at this point what he was all that mattered was that he was alive.

    "Let me go! I have to find Rafe." Ava yelled.

Rafe heard Ava yelling and that brought him back into reality. He hurt all over and was covered in shit. He started digging his way out as he started hearing more voices. Sloan and Nate's were the closest to him.

    "Rafe can you hear me man?"

Rafe managed to push a big ass piece of something off him and called out to them.

    "Whoever's got Ava upset better let her go now. I'm really not in a good mood here guys." Rafe grated out.

Ava heard Rafe's voice as she saw his head start to peek through the pile of debris. The guys that had been digging looking for him went straight for him and finished pulling him out. They picked him up and started helping him limp towards her and the others. She was damn sick of people restraining her so she stomped on the foot of the guy that was currently holding her as hard as she could. She was quite sure it didn't hurt him in the least, but it startled him enough to let her go. The second he did, she ran straight for Rafe.

Rafe saw Ava come barreling towards him and he brac
ed for the impact. She jumped straight into his arms and held on for dear life. He buried his face in her hair and held her just as tightly. He felt her shaking so he kissed her neck and tried to pull back to look at her. He smoothed back some of her hair as he spoke to her.

    "Ava baby. Are you okay? Look at me beautiful. Are you hurt?"

Rafe tried to lift Ava's face up to look at him, but she just shook her head and held on tighter.

    "Ava your scaring me tell me where your hurt baby." Rafe said gettin
g really worried.

    "I'm going crazy Rafe. Tell me none of this really just happened. Tell me we're in bed and I've just been having a really bad dream about psycho midgets and vampires and devils on fire and buildings blowing up." Ava blurted out sobbing. She finally ha
d enough and just broke down. She was allowed to dammit! She'd kept it together really friggin good up until now so she was allowed to have a break down now that it was all over. And if anyone didn't like it, they could just go to hell.

    "Shit!"

Rafe picked up his mate and carried her outside to Dom's waiting car. Ed was in the front seat and he didn't look so good. Rafe gently put Ava in the car and sat beside her, immediately pulling her into his lap. He looked at Ed.

    "What the hell happened to you
asshole?" He asked.

    "Oh you know nothin much, just decided it'd be fun to act like your own personal demon shield while
you’re crazy ass sister thought you'd look much better with a few bullet holes in your chest." Ed replied.

Ava squeaked and curled tig
hter into Rafe. He wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer into his chest and glared at Ed.

    "What? You asked." Ed exclaimed raising his hands in the air.

Dom got in the car and looked between Ed and Rafe. Ava had her head buried in Rafe's shoulder and he was pretty sure she was damn close to cutting off his wind pipe she had her arms wrapped around his neck so tight. Rafe was glaring at Ed as he stroked Ava's back.

    "Are you fucking kidding me?" He exclaimed. "Are you two acting like children
again? I swear I will kick both of you out of my car and you can find you own way home if you don't grow the hell up and stop this shit. I will not have you distressing Ava any more than she already is. Now stop so I can get her out of here."

Ava lifted he
r head only a little. "Thank you." She said in a ridiculously small voice and buried her face back in Rafe's neck. She felt the car start moving and felt only a little better now that they were finally getting the hell out of here.